Hyundai Elantra GT Sport

Editors' Rating

Price Starting at

$24,135

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Build and Price

Price Starting at

$24,135

Shop Local Cars

Build and Price

Overview

Hyundai’s take on the sporty hatchback comes in the form of the handsomely styled, comprehensively equipped Elantra GT Sport. It has a 201-hp turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-four and a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Despite its independent rear suspension, its corner-carving acumen falls short of true hot-hatch status. It’s rich in standard features, however, including heated seats and an 8.0-inch infotainment touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

2018 Hyundai Elantra GT Sport Manual

Standing in the shadow of giants.

At Hyundai, the GT suffix for the Elantra denotes a hatchback body style, not the car’s driving demeanor. One has to add Sport to the nameplate in order to give some credence to the whole grand tourer idea. The Elantra GT Sport’s chief upgrade over the plain Elantra GT is in the engine room, where it brooms the milquetoast 161-hp 2.0-liter inline-four and replaces it with a turbocharged 1.6-liter four with 201 horsepower and 195 lb-ft of torque. The 1.6-liter is paired with a six-speed manual—as in our test car—or a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. (The same powertrain also is available in the Elantra Sport sedan.)

Comprehensive chassis upgrades start with the fitting of a multilink rear suspension in place of the lesser model’s torsion-beam axle; the GT Sport also nets bigger brakes and retuned springs, dampers, and steering. Hyundai’s attempt at a hot hatch is a significant upgrade over the standard Elantra GT but doesn’t quite clear the high bar set by the big names in the segment.

Turbo Times

The GT Sport easily trounces its weaker sibling at the test track. The manual Sport lops 1.4 seconds off the zero-to-60-mph time we recorded for the regular automatic GT, completing the sprint in 6.6 seconds; it also chops more than a second off the quarter-mile, clearing the traps in 15.0 seconds at 94 mph versus 16.2 at 87 mph.

Looking out toward the wider world, the GT Sport’s 201 horses and 195 lb-ft align closely with the Honda Civic Si’s 205 horsepower and 192 lb-ft. And indeed, just 0.1 second separated the Hyundai’s sprint to 60 mph from the Honda’s, and their quarter-mile times are identical. The Elantra GT Sport outhustles the 180-hp Civic Sport hatchback (7.0 seconds to 60) and the 184-hp 2.5-liter Mazda 3 (7.4 seconds). It falls short of the 220-hp Volkswagen GTI, however, which needs only 5.9 seconds to blitz to 60 mph.

The Elantra’s 1.6-liter turbo four pulls strongly from its 1500-rpm torque peak—but too bad this engine doesn’t sound better. Run it up past 4000 rpm or so and you’re assaulted with a hollow resonance; this is not an engine that begs to be wrung out. The six-speed shifter moves easily through the gates, and the clutch isn’t tricky to modulate even though there isn’t much meat to its action.

The one truly disappointing aspect of this powertrain is its thirst for fuel. By the EPA’s measure, this compact hatch doesn’t even crack 30 mpg on the highway, with city/highway ratings of 22/29 mpg. The more powerful Volkswagen GTI with a manual returns 25 city and 33 highway, while the Civic Si rings in at 28/38 mpg and the abstemious Civic Sport trounces the Hyundai with its 29/38 EPA estimates. The good news is that in our 75-mph highway fuel-economy test, the Elantra GT Sport was able to top its EPA estimate, returning 31 mpg—but that still trailed the Civic Sport by 12 mpg.

As is typical in this class, the Elantra is front-wheel drive, but torque steer is not an issue. The steering is pleasantly weighted, and the fat-rimmed wheel wrapped in smooth leather feels good. Turn-in, though, isn’t as lively as that in a GTI—or even a Mazda 3. Although not inspiring, the GT Sport is capable on curvy roads, and its suspension effectively sops up bumps. It pulled a respectable 0.89 g on our skidpad, versus 0.84 for the Mazda 3, 0.88 for the Civic Si, 0.93 for the Civic Sport, and 0.94 for the GTI. The Hyundai’s brake pedal feels firm underfoot, and the Elantra stopped from 70 mph in 165 feet, a good but not class-leading performance.

What You Get

The Elantra hatchback is slightly longer and taller than a Golf, and yet the cabin feels less airy. And while there are a few flashes of red, Hyundai could have had more fun with this interior, which is mostly a dour, style-free zone. It is highly functional, though, with straightforward controls and a standard 8.0-inch touchscreen that has a logical menu structure. The nicely padded front buckets are comfortable, eschewing the hyper-aggressive lateral side support that can make the seats in some sport compacts confining. And the cargo hold, with 25 cubic feet behind the rear seats, is at the large end of the class.

The GT Sport is well equipped for its $24,135 base price, with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality, heated front seats, leather upholstery, a proximity key and push-button ignition, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and LED headlights and taillights. True, the Civic Sport is almost two grand cheaper, but it has none of the items listed above. The Civic Si sedan (the Si isn’t available as a hatchback) starts at $24,990 and more closely mirrors the Hyundai’s equipment, although it still lacks leather and LED lamps. The stellar GTI S costs $27,265, but you need to upgrade to the $31,320 GTI SE to get much of the Elantra’s equipment, and leather still is another $695. The GTI Autobahn trim brings standard leather and VW’s driver-assist features but costs $35,920. (On the Hyundai, adaptive cruise control, automated emergency braking with pedestrian detection, and lane-keeping assist are part of a $3850 Tech package that’s available only with the automatic.)

The Elantra GT Sport, then, is a somewhat fun car you might buy for its strong features set at a reasonable price—a traditional Hyundai rationale. While its dynamics are highly competent in a way that no Hyundai in this category has been before, it lacks the verve of a true hot hatch. For that, it may be worth waiting for the company’s new, 275-hp Veloster N, which lurks right around the corner.